


gap year

by entropyves



Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: Crack, F/F, Recreational Drug Use, Slice of Life, Some angst, This does actually have a plot, Weed, finding themselves maybe, hyesoul bffs, they smoke a lot, what else do you do on a gap year
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:46:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24093055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/entropyves/pseuds/entropyves
Summary: Hyejoo and Jinsoul make a discovery that solves all their cash flow issues, unwittingly stepping on a few toes along the way.
Relationships: Jeon Heejin/Jung Jinsol | Jinsoul, Jeon Heejin/Kim Hyunjin, Jo Haseul/Jung Jinsol | Jinsoul, Jung Jinsol | Jinsoul/Son Hyejoo | Olivia Hye
Comments: 10
Kudos: 38





	1. Chapter 1

Hyejoo slapped the back of her head as she laughed out brazenly “No you dumbass, we pick the red ones not the green ones!”

Jinsoul blinked slowly and looked down at the little plant in her hand and her mouth gaped and let out an “oh”.

They’d been on this farm for a month now and she still hadn’t managed to work out what was good to pick and what wasn’t, maybe she really was a dumbass or maybe Hyejoo was just really smart, she had graduated high school early and been in all the top classes. Yeah that was it, Hyejoo is just smart. She rolled over the green tomato in her hand regretfully.

“I thought gap years were supposed to be fun.”

“Oh I dunno, Soul, I’m making $2 an hour picking fucking tomatoes, this is the height of fun.”

Hyejoo chucked an overly ripe tomato and it splattered seeds all over Jinsoul’s top. She cackled loudly and covered her mouth before dashing in the opposite direction.

“You little shit! I’m gonna kill you!” She ran after Hyejoo and launched her pathetic undeveloped fruit.

“Yo that actually is kinda hard!” Hyejoo called back as she legged it through the runs of the plants.

Jinsoul was laughing and grabbing whatever she could to pelt Hyejoo.

They ran until their legs were about to give out and Hyejoo called time out so they could catch their breath.

“Hey, where are we?” Jinsoul said between pants.

Hyejoo pushed up off her knees, swallowed hard and stood up straight, surveying the surrounding area.

“I dunno. Looks like it’s the neighbour’s farm or something?”

They pressed on out of curiosity, feeling the crunch of small twigs beneath their feet until they reached a crowd of sunflowers.

“Oh these are pretty, Hyej, do you think anyone would notice if we took a few back to the house?”

“Soul, shut the fuck up real quick.”

Jinsoul was about to protest when she saw it too. Her eyes travelled from the ground to the top of-

“Is that what I think it is?” she whispered.

“It is what you think it is.”

“Fuck.”

In the entanglement of the sunflowers, right in the middle were, on first glance, fern shaped green plants, with very distinct shaped leaves.

“IT’S FUCKING WEED!”

Hyejoo clapped her hand across Jinsoul’s mouth.

“Will you shut the fuck up!” Hyejoo’s eyes darted around the area to check they were not being watched.

She released her hand slowly when she was sure Jinsoul wasn’t about to announce anything else, moved it to her chest and closed her eyes. “Soul, I have a proposition.”

Jinsoul was pouting and her cheeks were slightly red but she motioned for the girl to continue with an “mmm”.

“I propose, we take a little selection, just for us, one time, and get high as fuck and no one ever has to know.”

“I second your motion.”

“Perfect.” The girls wasted no time snatching some leaves off of the stems and shoving them deep into their pockets.

“This smells so dank.”

“Yeah when we get back, we’re gonna dry and hide in that nice cat poop coffee your mom sent.”

“Not the Kopi Luwak, Hyej, I beg, please, it’ll taint the aroma.”

“Trust me this is worth your kopoopi.”

Jinsoul laid in bed a few nights later without a care in the world. She looked over at Hyejoo with half open eyes and smiled lazily, Hyejoo returned the smile. They continued to sleepily chat between yawns.

“Man stuff that was good. I think that hint of coffee really was the cherry on top.”

“Hyej, I think we are the luckiest people in the world to have smoked that. Once in a lifetime that type of shit.”

Hyejoo’s eyes snapped open.

“Soul-”

“Once in a lifet…“ She couldn’t finish her words before sleep caught her.

The next morning she was shaken awake by a frantic Hyejoo.

Jinsoul opened one eye to see Hyejoo’s face about 4 inches away from hers, her eyes bloodshot and her hair sticking out at random angles.

“Good morning?”

“Look I know we said just one time, but I’ve been thinking.”

“About?” Jinsoul peeped at the analogue clock – 4:20am, she looked back at Hyejoo with disdain.

“The stuff. That stuff. I can’t stop thinking about it.”

“You wanna go back today?”

“No one’s gonna notice, there's loads there, we’ll be smart about it.”

“Okay but it's 4am.”

“It’s 4:20. It’s a sign!”

“Dude, I’m not going to go pick weed in the middle of the night.”

“Will you do it if I buy you chips?”

“…let me find some shoes.”

For the next week the girls would wake up before the sunrise to jam their pockets full of leaves to get baked after every sunset.

Jinsoul was lying on her bed when Hyejoo bounced onto it.

“Soul, I’m going to say something. I want your honest-ish opinion.”

Jinsoul was high as hell and moved her head at a glacial speed to look up at her friend, when she blinked she thought her eyes might not open again, “Sure, Hyej, I’m kinda gone but what’s up?”

“What if, now hear me out here, instead of just smoking it, we start, don’t think it’s crazy, selling it.”

She felt Hyejoo’s weight shift before noticing her friend was standing on the bed with a foot either side of her, almost like she didn’t have an escape.

“Sell it? Sell it to who? Heh. It’s just us out here and that nasty farmer man who only comes over to give us our money, my dude.” She started chuckling to herself for a bit too long.

“Soul, Soul listen right. You remember that shop, the grocery store. There’s that kid behind the counter. I bet, listen, you are still listening, right? I bet she’d buy some, she has a job, she has money.”

Her eyes rolled into the back of her head as she considered Hyejoo’s words, only to return from bliss to the sound of someone snapping their fingers in her face.

“Hey, hey earth to Jinsoul, stay with me here.”

“I’m good I’m good, that just seems like a really far walk right now and I’m so comfy on this bed.” Her fingers caressed the linen and a stupid smile appeared on her face.

“I don’t mean right now, you muppet. I mean tomorrow, we get all the tomatoes done extra speedy, I’m feeling kinda speedy right now actually, I’m going to pick some now. So in the afternoon we’re going to the grocery store and we’re gonna get that little whelk to buy our shit.” She jumped off the bed and flung open the door and Jinsoul heard the clatter of her putting on her shoes. Jinsoul rolled slowly onto her side and laughed to herself, _me and Hyejoo selling drugs, me and Hyejoo getting rich, me and Hyejoo drug kingpins, ratatata._

Jinsoul was becoming accustomed to Hyejoo yelling in her face at 4:20am. Like a paranoid alarm clock, she’d never known the girl to take anything so seriously, “Enterprise” she’d called it.

The conversation with the girl, Yerim, at the grocery store had gone well and the girls had arranged to meet her at the end of her night shift. Jinsoul was there to play good cop and Hyejoo was there to play bad cop should she need to; the reality was she stood there and looked pissed off while Jinsoul stumbled through a few words trying to sound professional.

The girls were busy fulfilling their daily tomato quota, was there even any point to it. Hyejoo had told her they’d be making far more money than they were now. She wasn’t too bothered about it really; she just liked seeing Hyejoo get involved with something. If they were having a good time, it didn’t matter what they were doing. “What you gonna do with all this money we’re going to make then Hyej?”

Hyejoo was crouched down looking at a tomato like it was a piece of shit and then frowned, “Well after I save up for a car for college, I was thinking I’d send some back home to my parents, might even get Sooyoung something, if she deserves it. What about you?”

“I’m not sure really, if I’m being cut off I should probably just put it in a savings account or something? That’s a responsible thing right?”

“Right, yeah I’d like to be able to pay your parents back too.”

“Nah man, it’s cool you know they pay for you to stick around cause they think I’d be friendless otherwise"

“Yeah the only reason I’m staying is for the money.”

Jinsoul kicked some of the dirt at her.

“I’m kidding! You know I’m a recluse otherwise.”

“I know I know, hey thanks for coming on this crappy trip with me, I would’ve gone insane otherwise.”

“Imagine just picking tomatoes for a whole year by yourself and nothing else.”

The girls looked at each other as their past reality both dawned on them, before they burst into laughter.

“Fuck this job.”

Jinsoul’s body clock had adjusted to the 4:20am wakeup call after a month. Hyejoo really did find the time hilarious enough to rouse her every single day on the dot. This morning however she wasn’t there in her face, Jinsoul heard the scrape of a chair downstairs and figured she’d throw on some clothes and see what was happening.

Hyejoo was already fully clothed and was hunched over at the stovetop.

“Is something burning?”

Hyejoo span around with a spatula in hand wielded like a deadly weapon.

“You scared the shit out of me. No there is nothing burning, we are just having…flambéed pancakes.”

“You’re cooking me pancakes?”

“I thought it would remind you of home.”

“Awww since when did I get so lucky to have a friend like you, Hyej?”

“I’ve been known to be nice, once. Anyway enough mushy shit, sit, eat.”

She slid the blackened discs on to a plate and Jinsoul drenched them in syrup before happily munching away.

Hyejoo watched her in earnest and Jinsoul was mid shovelling the pancakes down her throat when she realised Hyejoo wasn’t eating.

“You not hungry?”

“No, no I’m just, seeing something.” Her eyes widened and she motioned for Jinsoul to continue.

Once she was done and settled, Hyejoo swiped her plate to the side and lent in with a serious expression on her face.

“I just want you to know, this morning we have a really really important meeting. Now before you say anything, it’ll all be fine, I know you get anxious about talking to new people, I may have put something in your pancakes, but that’s not important, what’s important is that it’s going to be okay, we are expanding and expansion means more money.”

“Excuse me, what?”

“Meeting. This morning.”

“You put something in my food?”

“Oh only a little bit, just take the edge off you know, I’m just looking out for you. So this meeting-”

“Hyej, what the fuck! Oh my god! I can’t go meet someone now, you’ve put me in this weird headspace man. What am I supposed to do?”

“Heyyy, hey, shhhh, shhh, Soulie, its okay, its okay. Look at me, no really look at me.” She grabbed Jinsoul’s face from across the table, “repeat after me.”

Jinsoul eyerolled but Hyejoo pressed into her face like she was a horse with blinkers.

“I am a capable woman.”

_“I am a capable woman.”_

“I can do anything I put my mind to.”

_“I can do anything I put my mind to.”_

“Thank you Hyejoo for looking out for me.”

“I’m not saying that.”

Hyejoo squeezed her cheeks.

“OKAY. Thank you, Hyejoo, for looking out for me even though you tried to poison me.”

“You’ll appreciate it when you’re able to talk to this girl cause I know how much of a pick me you become around pretty birds.”

“She’s pretty?”

“Yeah, shut up and get your shoes on.”

They spotted the girl they were meeting hanging out behind the grocery store. She was wearing a huge puffer jacket that looked about 3 times too big, the hood was up, a scarf was around her face and she was wearing sunglasses, even though the sun had not yet risen.

“Dude, you said she was pretty?”

“She is, under all…that.”

They walked up to her and she sprang around in a defensive karate chop stance.

“Hey, Haseul? Right?”

The girl lowered her hands from defence to shake Hyejoo’s and then Jinsoul’s hands excitedly.

“Yes that’s me! So good to meet you! Yerim told me all about you.” Although it came out rather muffled.

Hyejoo snatched her hand back quickly and shook it off like she might have caught something from the other girl. Haseul lowered her scarf from her face, “So you’re Hyejoo and Jinsoul right?”

Hyejoo nodded and looked over to Jinsoul who was just staring at the girl, so she gave her a whack on the arm. Jinsoul grabbed the spot that had been hit and turned her head dramatically with her mouth open as wide as possible. Hyejoo waited for the “Ow!”' but it never came, instead Jinsoul just lingered in that position a little too long.

“Uh yeah that’s Jinsoul.”

“Right right,” Haseul lowered her sunglasses, “no one followed you here right?”

“You think we’re dumb?” Hyejoo asked, “we are…” looked Haseul up and down “...lowkey.”

“Heh.” Jinsoul was entertaining herself by picking at a loose thread on the hem of her shirt. The two girls whipped their heads around to her and when she realised she made an apology and told them to continue.

Hyejoo pressed on, “so Yerim’s been buying from us for a while, she said you could start expanding the business?”

Hyejoo felt a dead weight hanging on her arm and looked down to see Jinsoul clinging on to her like a koala, “Hyej, you really think of everything, you’re so smart, man.”

Haseul looked down at Jinsoul and asked if she was okay but Hyejoo just motioned for her to answer the question.

“Yeah I work at the coffee shop, a few of us are interested in buying and I have a few friends that come in we could sell to.”

“I love coffee.” A dopey Jinsoul said to no one in particular while still hanging off of Hyejoo.

“Perfect. Here’s the plan, double up on cups and hide the stuff in between the space at the bottom.”

“Your friend is right, you are smart. Now I have to ask,” Haseul began swinging on her feet, “what type of cut would we get?”

“What sort of cut are you expecting?”

“You know me and the girls kinda being a bit risky, especially as we’re undercutting the biggest seller in town.”

“Wait, who else is selling?”

“Oh you know just the Taddy Gang. I think they shanked someone once.” Haseul laughed awkwardly, the smile never dropping from her face.

“Never heard of them, so they can’t be that scary.” Hyejoo said boldly but was unsure she completely believed her own words.

“Ah it’s probably just a rumour. So this cut?” She smiled, it was friendly but there was a little something behind it.

“Hyej, just give the pretty girl what she wants, man.” Jinsoul was swaying on Hyejoo’s shoulder.

“Soul, be quiet the adults are talking.”

“Gotcha!” Jinsoul finger gunned at Hyejoo, Haseul copied her absent mindedly.

“Two percent”

“You sure drive a hard bargain, Hyejoo.”

“Five percent, final offer.”

“She may be smart but she’s stingy. Haseul, you can have twenty percent, the extra fifteen is because you’re so cute.” Jinsoul booped Haseul’s nose and Hyejoo looked absolutely disgusted.

Haseul giggled and looked down briefly, “sounds good to me, pleasure doing business with you ladies.”

“Fine.” Hyejoo rolled her eyes, “We’ll meet here every Friday, at 6:09am to give you stuff, got it?”

“Got it. Oh and if you need a caffeine kick anytime, you know where to find me.” Haseul shook both their hands again and Jinsoul clasped both hands around Haseul’s. With her eyes half open, gave her the greasiest smile before saying “I hope I do find you again.” Haseul blushed before pulling her scarf up over her face again and proceeded to sprint in the opposite direction. Both of them starred, watching her bad form as she made her way out of sight. 

Hyejoo smacked the back of Jinsoul’s head, “Twenty percent! Remind me never to go into business with you ever again you dumb bitch, I knew I shouldn’t have brought you along.” Jinsoul just giggled and poked Hyejoo’s cheek, “oh I just got the 6:09am, you’re a comedian Hyej. Can we get chips now?”

A month had passed before Hyejoo had realised they were depleting the weed source and took it upon herself to plant some in the tomato runs. She was lucky the leaves looked similar so even if the farmer ever decided to look around, his blind ass probably wouldn’t notice. Jinsoul’s mother had kindly provided much more Kopi Luwak upon request, and been told to not let onto Jinsoul’s father. The coffee provided a unique blend to the taste and word had travelled quickly.

It was a sticky day and Jinsoul dragged an arm across her forehead to mop up the sweat that lingered there. She was pruning one of the plants the way Hyejoo had diligently taught her, taking the utmost care not to do anything wrong. She’d begun to get the hang of plants, even if she still didn’t care for tomatoes. She might even say she could survive in the wild on her own now, yes, she’d really become a woman of nature.

Inside, a blue light was cast on to Hyejoo’s face from a large screen, her hands clutched a custom grey controller, brows furrowed and mouth open in concentration. The first thing she had done with their pay out was buy a gaming setup. She’d planned to put the rest aside for her car and her family but this was a treat for her, she deserved it for working so hard.

The knock at the door made her fling the controller and almost take out a chunk of the 86” TV she’d bought. She stood up cautiously and rubbed the sweat on her hands down the front of her jeans. She was hoping that the old git hadn’t come to check in on them. She opened the door however to a familiar, unwanted face.

“Oh hi uhm, what was your name again?”

“It’s Heejin, Hyejoo. Please we’ve met about eight times.”

Hyejoo looked the girl up and down with disapproval.

“Jinsoul’s busy right now; you’ll have to see her another time.”

“Well she texted me, so if you don’t mind I’m going to go see her thank you.”

Hyejoo rolled her eyes as the other girl pushed past her.

“Where’s your sidekick? This better be for business purposes!” Hyejoo called after her and saw Heejin quickly turn and squint at her with repugnance before exiting through the patio doors to the field.

_Stuck up bitch, thinks she’s better than me._

Hyejoo continued to mutter curses under her breath while she fished through Jinsoul’s mountain of snacks, her payout treat to herself. She decided on some Hot Cheetos before slumping back onto the couch and restarting a solo campaign on PUBG after she’d been killed during Heejin’s rude interruption.

She was on respawn attempt five and was sniped by some fucker behind a tree when she threw the controller down in frustration. 

_Stupid Heejin and her stupid nosy ass, I’m her fucking boss, this ungrateful bitch._

She’d been recruited at the coffee shop under Haseul, just to sell, and somehow had moseyed her way in to hanging out with Jinsoul. It was disruptive for their process. Jinsoul was getting distracted. She would hang out at the coffee shop all the time after Hyejoo had sent her there to initially just check on business. Hyejoo guessed Jinsoul had made some progress with Haseul so she had allowed it the first few times until she saw the notifications on Jinsoul’s phone when she was asleep from ‘Heekie’. Naturally, in the interest of business, she’d read their messages and saw the group chat which also included Heejin’s equally dumb friend, Hyunjin, another seller at the coffee shop. It was a dangerous business they were in and Jinsoul really could only fully trust Hyejoo. Hyejoo knew what was best for both of them and the business. So she’d left the girls on read and had hoped Soul wouldn’t notice. She did. She wasn’t even mad about it though, just put it down to forgetfulness. The good thing about her having a fish memory was that Hyejoo could do or say whatever and Soul would just accept it or blame herself for forgetting they’d already agreed to something-

_Not the kindest of thoughts, Hyejoo._

Maybe she shouldn’t think that way. Jinsoul was her best friend, her business partner, even if she couldn’t fully trust her to always do the right thing or make the right choices, she knew their loyalty was more important than anything.

She was lent against the sliding door with her arms folded looking out on the field, watching Jinsoul laugh and gently push Heejin’s shoulder.

_Heejin isn’t even funny, I‘m funnier than her._

She wondered what they were talking about before seeing the girls turn to walk back to the house. She sprinted to the couch and attempted to look relaxed and unbothered, changing her position a couple of times to look natural. She feigned being engrossed in her phone and looked up as they walked into the living room still consumed by their conversation. 

Jinsoul, finally noticing Hyejoo spoke, “Hyej, we’re going to go get some coffee, you coming?”

“Uh no, Soul, we need to make today’s target, we’re on a time crunch.”

“I was just going to take a quick break. I’ll be back before you know it!”

“Soul, you think that maybe, you could use your business brain for once, you really need to look after the plants, this is our livelihood. You don’t see Steve Jobs going out for coffee do you?”

“That’s because he’s dead.” Heejin interjected.

“Not my point at all but nice try, princess!” Hyejoo glowered at her.

“Piss off, Hyejoo.”

“This is my house Heejin, so I suggest it’s you who pisses off.”

“Okay, Hyej, I’ll stay, sorry.” Jinsoul said in an attempt to neutralise the tension between her friends.

“Good, okay let’s get back to work!”

“She’s not your slave, Hyejoo.”

“And she’s not your best friend, Heejin. Bye!”

Heejin scoffed and Jinsoul shrugged at her as she led her to the door and closed it behind her.

“I told you, can’t get too close to people; you never know what their intentions are!”

“Sure thing, Hyej.”

A defeated Jinsoul traipsed back to the field as Hyejoo picked up the controller once more.

“Haseul, this disguise, it’s a bit…”

“Genius?!” Jinsoul completed Hyejoo’s sentence without picking up an ounce of her true meaning.

She was marvelling at the prosthetic nose Haseul was donning.

“Thank you! Did you know Hyunjin is in school to be a stage makeup artist, she can make these crazy wounds too, look!” Haseul yanked up her sleeve revealing an arm covered in fake cuts, which were pussing, a nice touch. “Really completes the look I think!”

“Yeah, yeah sure. So we are crystal clear on the plan right?” Hyejoo was getting irritable.

“Step 1: I go into the grocery store. Step 2: I find some cheese. Step 3: I find Yerim. Step 4: I open my purse. Step 5: I ask Yerim if she can change these bills into different denominations. Step 6: I buy the cheese. Step 7: I eat the cheese. Step 8-”

“I don’t need to know about the cheese, Haseul, it's fine really. All that matters is that the cash gets switched up to look less suspicious okay? No 19 year old should be carrying around so many 1’s.”

“Hyej, I wish I were as smart as you.” Jinsoul smiled at her friend

Hyejoo smirked, “That’s why you have me around because you’re not. Anyway Haseul please change the hat at least.”

“What’s wrong with the hat?”

“Dude, I like the hat. Gives me a ‘Annie, are you okay?’ vibe.” Jinsoul nodded at Haseul while Hyejoo side eyed her.

“Smooth criminal indeed!” Haseul clapped her hands together as she laughed.

“Exactly.” Deadpanned Hyejoo, “that’s why we need to change it. Here, wear this.” She took off the black baseball cap she was wearing, handing it to Haseul who jammed in on top of her white panama hat.

“Here let me help.” Jinsoul said as she bent down a little and carefully switched out the hats, pausing to neaten up Haseul’s stray bits of hair. Hyejoo watched as her eyes sparkled when she looked at Haseul. The confidence being blazed had given her; Jinsoul couldn’t even look at Haseul properly sober a month ago.

Although she couldn’t even draw a line between when they were high and were not at this point. It was constant. It was always there, why wouldn’t they? Hyejoo scratched her arm absentmindedly.

“Hey Soul we need to get going, Haseul send the text when you’re done.”

Hyejoo kicked off her shoes and shouted a “hi!” before being greeted with silence _._ She was sure Jinsoul had invited Haseul over. Confused, she threw the supplies she’d been bagging up on the table to give to Haseul for the coffee girls to sell. Under no circumstances would she like to interact with anyone but Haseul in that group so it was convenient that she was over. She was fine, harmless, a nice choice for Soul.

The house being so quiet was making her uncomfortable though.

She looked down and saw a pair of sneakers she didn’t recognise, _must be Haseul’s_.

She looked in the living room. Nothing.

She looked in the kitchen. The usual mess but nothing new.

She started to climb the stairs when she thought she heard a muffled squeal and stopped dead in her tracks.

 _Fuck, they’ve found us. Fuck they’ve got Soul._ She was panicking. _Should I run? No they already know I’m here. Fuck. I’ve got to get Soul. Fuck I don’t have a gun. Shit. A knife._

She slinked her way back to the kitchen and silently opened the draw, picking out the largest one she could find. She put her back against the wall and crept upstairs, blood roaring in her ears.

She tiptoed down the hall and hovered a hand over the bedroom handle, she was trembling.

_Okay, breathe. You’re about to kill someone. It’s okay. They deserve it. You won’t get in trouble it’s self-defence. Need to hide the stash before we call the cops. Okay. Whew. Countdown. 5, 4, 3, 2-_

She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply through her nose when she heard a bang and Jinsoul’s voice cry out in pain. Without even thinking she burst into the room knife drawn.

The sight in front of her was unexpected. 

“What the fuck are you two doing?!” Knife still raised high in the air.

Jinsoul was on the floor rubbing her butt and Haseul was standing straight up, eyes closed with her arms reaching to the ceiling.

“Oh hey, Hyej, uh we’re being blades of grass.”

“Blades…of…grass.”

“Yeah, you know you have to see how the other side lives man, gotta get some perspective.”

“I literally thought you were being attacked, what the actual fuck.”

“Hyej, chill, you’re disturbing the ambiance of the field. I just lost my balance.”

“Hyejoo’s aura is so black sometimes. Even I as a blade of grass can see it.” Haseul finally spoke with one eye open.

“Blades of grass don’t talk, shut up.”

“Hey! Be nice dude, she’s in the zone. Did you bring me any Cheetos?”

“No and I’m not going to…bye.” Hyejoo slammed the door behind her.

Jinsoul watched her go, “Haseul, I think my legs are getting a little tired, heh.”

“The blade of grass never tires. It was born to grow up from the soil, every day it fights against the tyrants of wind and rain, fighting to reach the light.” Haseul was still standing straight as a pencil but opened both her eyes, finally noticing Jinsoul on the floor. “Oh my god what happened, did a cow get you?!” She said kneeling beside her.

She ran a hand over Jinsoul’s cheek like she was inspecting every part of her was okay. “Hey your skin is really soft, did you know that?”

Jinsoul felt her cheeks heat up and she was sure it wasn’t from smoking. Her voice didn’t come out as smooth as usual, she stuttered a bit, “Uh-uh its cause I have this really good moisturizer. Uhm, let me show you it heh.”

She stood up awkwardly and waddled over to her bedside table and hunched to look through the products there.

Behind her she heard the weight of Haseul drop onto her bed. She stood up very straight and turned slowly, making sure to not meet her eyes. She plopped down on the bed next to her.

“Uh here you go!” She said looking at the floor and stretching out her arm.

“Oh, thanks. I can’t really read it though, I’m kinda basted.”

“Basted? Isn’t it blazed?”

“I am a basted thanksgiving turkey, cooking in the oven.”

Jinsoul shouted, voice full of concern, “but you’ll die!”

The fear in Jinsoul’s eyes melted when she turned and met Haseul’s sleepy content gaze.

They both sat there for a moment, looking.

Jinsoul swallowed, _cottonmouth_. She looked down to the bottle in Haseul’s hands.

“Uhm maybe I should take that off you then heh.” She reached out a hand for it and Haseul met hers. They both held onto the bottle, looking at each other.

“This bottles really smooth.” Haseul’s eyes caught the light and seemed to twinkle. 

“Yeah this feels really nice…to hold...the bottle.” Jinsoul couldn’t stop staring.

Their hands rested on the bed still holding the bottle and each other.

“SOUL IT'S YOUR TURN TO CHECK THE PLANTS!” Hyejoo called from downstairs.

The girls jolted back like the bottle had made a spark between their fingers. 

“I guess that’s my cue huh?”

“Oh no you can stay up here I don’t think it’s safe for you to drive or anything?” 

“I’ll just get Heejin to pick me up, it’s fine!” 

“Oh.” Jinsoul tried hiding her disappointment but it bled out anyway.

Haseul lent in, “I’m kinda messy but I had a really good time with you...Soul.” Jinsoul saw her look as if asking for permission to call her that. 

The smile she gave Jinsoul was so genuine, she could’ve sworn her heart would have left her body had there not been a rib cage in the way. 

“I’ll see you soon?”

“You literally are collecting payments tomorrow, you goon.”

Jinsoul was suddenly aware of a closing gap between them. Their hands had somehow found their way only a few inches apart on the bed. 

“JUNG JINSOUL I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOURE BEING A MOTHER FUCKING BLADE OF GRASS I WILL MOWE YOU DOWN MYSELF!”

“We better go downstairs.” 

Haseul was preoccupied with the bedsheet, “Feels good on your fingers.”

“God doesn't it? I keep trying to tell Hyej-”

“JUNG JINSOUL!” Hyejoo was erupting in the doorway, “GET YOUR TITANIC ASS DOWNSTAIRS.”

“I wonder if I’ll ever get my titanic romance.” Haseul said, staring at the bedsheet. 

Hyejoo was already dragging Jinsoul downstairs. Before she vacated the room she reminded Haseul “No 2jin in the house.”

boss babie: ur supposed to be watering the plants

boss babie: if ur not here in 5 mins I will run a bath and dump all ur chips in it.

boss babie: HELLO?

boss babie: if ur with 2jin again istfg

boss babie: do u even want to b friends

boss babie: plants r dyin

boss babie: its ova 4 plants

boss babie: plants reppin r dyin friendship

Jinsoul clicked the side button on her phone and flipped it over before the light of the notifications triggered some deep seated guilt. She looked up, forced a smile, and laughed at nothing either of the girls, whose company she was in, had said.

“Your girlfriend blowing up your phone?” Heejin asked with a smirk on her face.

“I think you mean parole officer.” Hyunjin corrected.

“What? No? It’s just Hyejoo, I’ll respond later.”

“Ugh I don’t know how you can live with her, Jinsoul.” Heejin scoffed.

“What do you mean? We’ve been friends forever!”

“You know what I mean, she’s you know...”

“You guys just don’t know her well that’s all.” Jinsoul swallowed the rising feeling of irritation.

“I’m not sure if I want to! She’s so rude.” Hyunjin remarked.

“She sits on her arse all day playing video games and expects you to do everything.” Heejin said and stared at Jinsoul expectantly.

“Because she trusts me and she has a lot to think about with the business and she deserves the downtime and man you guys are just not being cool right now.” Jinsoul stood up abruptly.

“Hey Jinsoul, don't be like that, we’re just..We’re your friends okay?”

“I’m not sure if this was a good idea, maybe we should just stick to business.” Jinsoul said snatching her phone up off the table and marching out of the coffee shop.

She cleared the notifications from Hyejoo and wiped her nose on her sleeve before drafting out a text to Haseul.

jinsoul: do u want to come over?

“What do you call this?!”

“Oh it’s called grilled cheese! I ate it when I lived in the USA.”

“You lived in the USA?! Man, you’re so cool, Seulie.”

Haseul blushed while giving a small thankyou before turning to flip the grilled cheese in the pan.

“I feel like there’s so much about you I don’t know, but like I want to.” Jinsoul didn’t mean to blurt out the last part but being higher than Hyejoo’s grades made her tongue looser than the mum in ‘Cheaper by the Dozen’’s vagina.

“Oh there’s not that much to know!” Haseul chuckled.

“Well tell me about the US! I want to know everything.” Jinsoul rested her chin on both her hands and looked eagerly at Haseul.

“Uh well, I was there for a year of college but uhm I had to come back cause it got really expensive and I had to look after my sister and stuff so yeah.” Haseul faltered.

Jinsoul blinked, the smile disappearing from her face. “Oh I’m really sorry to ask. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

“It's fine, here this one’s ready, Soul!” Haseul plated up the grilled cheese and sat it down in front of Jinsoul.

Jinsoul folded her hands and said a grateful “thank you”.

“It’s good when it’s hot, don't feel like you have to wait for me!”

Jinsoul took the first bite. Her teeth sank into the crustiness of the bread and felt the silky cheese pour into her mouth. Her eyes rolled back in pleasure.

“Seulie.” She said, mouth still full.

“Shhh baby, just enjoy it.” Haseul lent against the counter and watched the girl devour the grilled cheese like it was ambrosia from the gods.

Hyejoo stalked into the kitchen, her eyes had heavy black bags underneath them. “I smelt food.”

“Oh my god, dude, you have to try this. Haseul is literally Gordon Ramsey.”

“Gordon Ramsey is better looking.”

“I’m right here, Hyejoo.”

“Oh I couldn’t tell cause you’re so short. Anyway, what’s this food?”

“The squeakiness is like if you chew gum too much and it like turns into rubber. That’s how like chewy and squeaky it is. And like when you chew into it the salty oils from the cheese like coat your mouth in a warm salty hug.”

Hyejoo stared blankly at Jinsoul.

“What?”

“I stopped listening after the first ‘The’. What is this food?”

Haseul smiled, “Would you like me to make you a grilled cheese, Hyejoo?”

“That would be sick. I’m kinda getting bored of eating Jinsoul’s Takis.”

“I thought you liked Cheetos?”

“Yeah I ate all of those, we’ve moved onto Takis now. Why do they taste like spicy dirt?”

“American imports are like that.” Haseul said knowingly, buttering a piece of bread.

“Oh man Hyej, Haseul lived in America, man. She’s got insider knowledge!” Jinsoul proudly said.

“Fascinating. How long til the food’s ready?”

“Just toasting it now.”

“Dope. Don’t fucking put anything weird in it okay? Hey Soul, when the fuck are you gonna go water the plants?” Hyejoo stared expectantly at her best friend.

“I was eating, man! Give me some peace!” Jinsoul moaned.

“Uh who the fuck you think you’re talking to pal, it’s your job.”

“You’ve been here all day, couldn’t you have done it?” Jinsoul whined.

“Oh I’m sorry to disturb you and your social leisure time which is the only reason you were out of the house in the first place today.” Hyejoo clicked her tongue.

“I was making deliveries!” Jinsoul got to her feet.

“That doesn’t take 2 hours!” Hyejoo rose in retaliation.

“Well maybe if you were nicer to people they’d want to talk to you for longer!”

“Excuse me? I don’t want dumb friends like yours! They suck, they’re not even funny. Besides, you can’t even trust them!”

“What like it’s not obvious that we keep everything in my Kopi Luwak containers, our weed literally tastes like coffee, Hyej! It doesn’t take a scientist!”

“HASEUL IS STOOD RIGHT THERE YOU FUCKING MORON!”

Haseul lifted her arms like she was about to surrender to a gunman.

“Man Hyunjin is right, you are fucking rude.” Jinsoul crossed her arms.

“If you don’t like it why don’t you crawl up her arse and live there seeing as you’re already renting space?” Hyejoo barked back.

“Maybe I will and maybe you can die alone surrounded by your fucking playstation games because you refuse to be nice to your best fucking friend.” Jinsoul’s eyes were starting to sting.

Hyejoo opened then promptly closed her mouth, her face reddening and marched out the room. The tension hung in the air after her exit until after a few minutes Haseul softly touched Jinsoul’s arm, “I think I should go, you guys need some space or something.”

Jinsoul trampled through the tomato runs to the marijuana plants, taking absolutely no care to avoid anything that crossed the path of her shoes. She chucked water on them while muttering under her breath. How had she’d managed to literally fall out with everyone today and Haseul probably didn’t even want to be around her after witnessing that argument. She was so tired of being stupid. She aggressively ran her sleeve across her nose, not giving a shit about the micro abrasions.

Haseul was so kind and sweet and she’d fucked it up by showing her worst side in front of her. She threw down the watering can in frustration before punting it across the runs. She clenched her fists and looked up to the evening sky, doing her best not to scream into it. She’d gone too far with Hyejoo, she knew she was her only friend and she’d used that against her. Not to mention Heejin and Hyunjin, they were just trying to look out for her.

Her thoughts were soon interrupted however when she felt a wet rag held in a warm hand clasp round her mouth and everything went black.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i feel so relieved to finally post this

She felt the cold hard metal cinched around her wrists. There was a halogen light aimed directly at her face, blinding her.

“I’m going to say this once Jung Jinsoul. Tell us where the rest of the stash is,” a squeaky voice said.

“Who... who are you?”

“The cops.”

“Listen, I may look high, I might even be high, but even I know the cops don’t knock people out with chloroform.”

“Uh…the feds then!”

“Hmm that does seem more plausible.”

“Yeah...so tell us where the stash is!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

A second, much deeper voice spoke, “You’re a terrible liar. We know all about your little entrepreneurial shit, you crusty sket.”

“I don’t know what you mean?”

“Cut the shit. You messed with the Taddy Gang.

“Ah! I didn’t know I swear.”

“You didn’t know?” The deeper voiced gang member let out a very throaty laugh which ended abruptly when there was a loud bang followed by “my fucking toe!” and the light on Jinsoul’s face wobbled.

She spoke again but it sounded more of a hiss and Jinsoul assumed she was gritting her teeth. “We’re the biggest gang in this county. All to get parred by you out here selling these special strands, messing with our bag,” Jinsoul heard knuckles crack and then felt pain followed by numbness in her cheek.

What felt like hours passed and Jinsoul had a migraine from the bright light digging into her brain.

“I’ll get you your money.”

“Speak up,” The deep voice returned.

“My phone, notes app.”

“Boss, you better look at this,” Squeaky said.

Jinsoul could barely hear the muffled footsteps, she could only assume belonged to the deep voice. 

The light of her phone shone to the right of the light in her face. The silence breaking after a few minutes with the ‘Boss’ yelling, “She’s fucking with us! I’m going to shove a curtain rail down her throat!”

The ‘Boss’ trudged over with Jinsoul’s phone covering her face, she wasn’t very tall. 

“What the fuck are we supposed to do with this?” She shook the phone and Jinsoul saw the notes app open and the screen before her.

It took everything in her to hold back a laugh. “Ah that isn’t what I thought I wrote at the time. Man I really thought I put a code in there...Please don’t hit me again.”

“Nah nah, see here’s the thing, we need your mopey goth mate to know we mean business.”

“Leave Hyejoo out of this.”

“When she’s the brains of your little op? Don’t mug me off. But now I have your phone, I’m going to get to know her a little better.”

Jinsoul wasn’t sure what she meant until she heard the beginning of a video, which began with her taking a sharp hit. 

_“Bong? No! I’m smoking a—“_

The makeshift pipe would pan into the shot and Jinsoul found herself mouthing the words:

_“spring roll!”_

Well, this was embarrassing. 

“That’s actually quite creative,” The ‘Boss’ murmured. Jinsoul heard the squeaky gang member mutter in agreement. 

“Maybe you could go back to hitting me?” Jinsoul asked with the hope of an innocent child asking for extra pocket money so they could go buy the latest edition of ‘Girl’s Talk’ magazine because it had the free waxy lipstick and the bright blue eyeshadow that looked good on approximately no one.

“You know what. I was about to get proper vexed about this whole thing but you know the Einstein bitch I am, all it takes is a little persuasion.”

Jinsoul thought about the theory of relativity, “so you’re going to hit me at the speed of light?”

“Boss, please can we tape her mouth shut? I can't be dealing with these posh bitches from the city.”

“Nah nah I have a better idea.”

The dialpad of Jinsoul’s phone obnoxiously blared with each letter the ‘Boss’ typed in and then she heard the ringing. The waiting. Jinsoul looked round at the silhouettes and to her feet. The ringing. She tapped her foot. Still ringing. Then the familiar sound of Hyejoo’s voice.

_“Hello?”_

“Ah finally—“

“ _Hellooo?”_

“Yes am I speaki—“

_“I can’t hear you, hello?”_

“Hello. This the leade—-“

_“Ah got you ya twat! Leave a message I’ll never listen to.”_

Silence. 

Jinsoul could taste the frustration in the air.

_Beep_

“Listen you rat, I've got your pretty little friend here and if you don’t pay up I’m gonna slice her open like a cucumber.”

Silence.

“You really slice _open_ cucumbers often? I feel like you slice them _up_ ,” Jinsoul said.

“You know Boss I think she’s right, like you slice _open_ a melon but you slice _up_ cucumber, you know the sticks.”

“The sticks?”

“The ones you dunk in hummus.”

“Oh yeah, fair, those are pretty good. Wait. I didn’t hang up yet. How do I re-record?”

“I think it’s 5.”

“Yeah Boss, press 5.”

_“Message saved.”_

  
  
  


“I can’t believe they let you go even after showing them _that._ You wrote that on the first night we tried the strand and we laughed at it for 25 minutes,” A tear streaked Hyejoo stared at the phone screen in disbelief.

“Hwh yeah...I wasn’t exactly let go, Hyej. I got absolutely lamped,” Jinsoul moved the bag of frozen peas to show the bruise on her cheek. 

“I’m just glad you’re safe, Soul. Don’t ever fucking scare me again, you fuck.”

“Does this mean we are still friends?”

Hyejoo looked at the phone and then to the floor.

“I’m...s-ssss…” she huffed, “man, this word is so difficult I don’t think I’ve ever used it seriously before.”

“It’s okay, I know,” Jinsoul paused. “Can I have a hug?”

Hyejoo side eyed as if to check no one could see her before she threw her arms around Jinsoul and squeezed her tight.

“I’m sorry that you had to give away the stash to rescue me, Hyej.”

Hyejoo pulled back and rubbed her eyes. “You know it’s stupid right, I’m high all the fucking time, but when I’m high and you’re not there with me too man, I just. It isn’t right,”

“I feel the same dude. I don’t want to be in world where I’m getting high and you’re not there with your red eyes being mad paranoid while I’m creasing about the way you say the word ‘tune’.”

“What’s wrong with the way I say tune?”

“It sounds like a train, _choo-ne,_ ” Jinsoul laughed a little through the sobs. “ _choo choo-ne_ ,” sob “play a _choo-ne_ ,” laugh. “This song is a _choo-ne,”_ laughing sob. 

Hyejoo leaned further back and narrowed her eyes. “Okay, that’s enough from you. I need to come up with a plan.”

“I need to apologise to Heejin and Hyunjin.”

“Those wankers can wait.”

“Hyej, please don’t call them that.”

“Okay...those bitches can wait.”

“Not much better?”

“Oh well. Anyway, we need to get $4000 and I can only think of one place that has that much cash at one time.”

Hyejoo dropped Jinsoul’s phone on the bed face up. The phone was open on the notes app with one singular note that read "it's all blue man".

  
  
  


“Why does your face get more punchable every time i see you?” Hyejoo’s smirk quickly dissipated when she saw Hyunjin on the side of Heejin, “oh see you brought security,” Hyunjin cracked her knuckles.

“No, I brought my girlfriend,” Heejin said curtly before pushing her way in. 

Jinsoul appeared at the top of the stairs and sulkily made her way down, clasping the frozen peas to her face still.

“Heej, Hyun, you came?” Her eyes began to swim. 

Heejin lurched forward and squeezed her, “oh thank god you’re okay!” 

“Yeah could’ve been worse, heh.” 

Heejin pulled away but kept her hands on Jinsoul’s shoulders. “Nothing broken?!”

“No, no just bruised...listen...Heejin.”

“I know what you’re going to say, and it’s okay, I’m sorry too. You were just sticking up for,” she exhaled, “your best friend right.”

“I’m still your boss, bitch!” Hyejoo called from the living room. 

Heejin closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I get it, I would defend Hyunjin if anyone said anything about her.” 

Hyunjin unfolded her arms and smiled softly. “Yeah it’s okay, Jinsoul. We know you’re just being loyal, that’s important.”

“Hey so we’re all good?” Jinsoul looked between the two of them. 

“Yeah we’re all good.”

“Not with me you’re not,” Hyejoo yelled.

“Hyejoo, what exactly is your problem with me? Do you not like me because I’m gay?”

Hyejoo appeared in the doorway, “no I don’t like you cause you’re fucking annoying.”

“Hyejoo, stop. Just be civil. Please,” Jinsoul said firmly.

Hyejoo blinked. “Fine. It’s cool. Whatever.”

“Whatever,” Heejin said back before turning to Jinsoul again. “You need help, right? What’s the Taddy Gang asking for?” 

“They’re asking for $4000, taking back their losses from us. We don’t have any weed left, Hyejoo gave them the last of it to get me back,” Jinsoul scratched the back of her head. 

“Oh, so what’s the plan?” Heejin’s brows were furrowed.

“Hyejoo’s formulating something now, that’s part of the reason I asked you to come. Yerim and Haseul are on their way too. I’m sorry to ask but we could really use all your help.” 

  
  


“So you want me to go into the bank, check where all the security cameras are, see who’s working at 11am on a Thursday and canvas the surrounding area?” Yerim asked. 

“Yeah, if you want to live,” Hyejoo said nonchalantly, the pointer stick she had acquired was in both hands and she resembled a war general, giving instructions to her troops. 

“What Hyej means is yes, please, Yerim, you’d be doing us a solid,” Jinsoul grasped both of Yerim’s hands and smiled. Yerim returned the smile and nodded enthusiastically. Hyejoo figured she was the happiest or dumbest person she had ever met. 

Hyejoo snapped the pointer back at the blank wall behind her, “Haseul will be our get away driver… where is she anyway?” She said while scanning the room. 

“I’m sure she’ll arrive soon. What can we do to help?” Heejin said. Hyejoo had to bite her tongue sometimes and accept that Jinsoul was happy to be in this stuck up slag’s presence, but also, she was at least useful in their time of dire need. 

“Well while we are securing the money, we need to make sure people inside the bank are compliant and no one decides to be a hero. But we also need disguises. You and H..hhhhh..jin--”

“Hyunjin, you know I’m Hyunjin.”

“I think that’s the first time I’ve heard you speak actually.” 

Hyunjin’s expression was unreadable but Hyejoo noticed Heejin grab her arm to soothe her and mutter a “she’s not worth it”. 

“Hyunjin, we need your stage makeup capabilities.”

“Right,” Hyunjin muttered.

“Heejin, you will act as a normal bank goer, who does bank things with money or whatever hags do in banks. Just make sure if anyone starts, you will discourage them by any means necessary.”

“Thank you, General—I mean Hyejoo,” Heejin furrowed her brows at the way she’d been pulled into this nonsense. Hyejoo was compelling, annoyingly.

Hyejoo managed to hide her pleasure at the name but saluted and told them they were all dismissed. 

Jinsoul plodded up to her. 

“And you want Haseul to be our get away driver?”

“She’s the only person I know here who drives.”

“Okay well there's something I should tell you before she rolls up.”

“Don’t worry, I watched “La Casa Del Papel”, I turned off the subtitles because I wanted the full immersive experience, but details, it’s fine I’m the smart one here. I’m not in a relationship and that’s what fucks everything up.” 

“We don’t have guns.” 

“We don’t _need_ guns, it's all about creating the perception, carrying versus imitating— the prison sentence for each is different anyway and it’s not like we’re gonna get caught.” 

The two of them saw everyone off at the door and noticed a vehicle approach. 

A black hearse with white comic sans ‘Jane Does 30% off with the Jo’s!’ stuck on the rear window, rolled up.

“What in the fresh hell is this?”

“That’s what I wanted to tell you, Haseul’s family runs a funeral service.”

Haseul stepped out of the driver seat and smiled widely at Jinsoul before catching herself and turning pink. 

“This is not subtle in any shape or form.”

“Well it’s all we’ve got, Hyej,” Jinsoul said before jogging over to Haseul and wrapping her up in a hug. 

_Gross._

  
  


“Hey so make yourselves comfy, I’m sorry Hyejoo, you’ll have to sit in the back with that casket,” It was of course hard to tell what expression she had, what with her wearing the huge puffer jacket with the hood pulled so tightly over her head, it looked like it was giving birth to her. She was sporting a set of fake bangs underneath the hood, stating they were a personal buy to save her from actually cutting them in when she was having a “moment”.

It was 10:20am on the following Thursday. 

“Why the fuck is there a casket in here?”

“Well if we get pulled over it’s much better that we have a casket as an alibi right?” Haseul said, sunglasses the size of dinner plates on her nose.

Hyejoo couldn’t disagree as she saw Jinsoul look over to Haseul with hearts for eyes. Quite literally. Jinsoul’s disguise had Elton John worthy heart sunglasses. Hyunjin had given them some ill fitting props from her theatre place and Hyejoo herself sporting a pair of large eyebrows paired with a bold chin. Hyunjin had taken the liberty of plastering random pussing cuts to her cheeks, _“There now your face matches your personality.”_

 _Wanker_. 

“You know what, actually I can drive.”

Hyejoo could not in fact drive. racking up hours on GTA does not prepare one for civilian, low-key manoeuvring. It took her 8 tries to do a three point turn to get them facing the right direction. She humbly muttered something about having to drive on the wrong side of the road was messing with her game and let Haseul back in the driver's seat. 

The drive into town was about 40 minutes.

Haseul was engrossed, ranting about her cotton beauty blender conspiracy to Jinsoul. “You use up the toner quicker cause half of it is absorbed. You’re wasting so much toner, so really, just pour it straight into your face.”

“Pour it straight from the bottle onto my face?” Jinsoul reiterated slowly just to make sure she got the point.

“I’m telling you, Soul, they’re just Big Pharmas way of making you spend more money, why are they $7?” 

Half interested in the conversation, Hyejoo interjected lazily, “Don’t you mean cosmetic companies?”

“Aha! They would like you to think that wouldn’t they! You have to follow the paper trail they’re all owned by the same people. Billionaires.”

Ever the entrepreneurial spirit, Hyejoo licked her lips, “Big Pharma are Billionaires... Can’t we count weed as medicinal?” 

“Oh yes but they only want to legalise it when they can make more profit from it, currently the prison system is much more profitable.” 

“So we’re in the better position right now as long as we stay out of prison?”

Haseul shifted in her seat and her voice became soft. “You’re still risking a lot.”

Jinsoul looked at Haseul for a moment, then fixed her eyes on the road again.

  
  
  
  


“Alright, Soul, let's go through this one more time, when we get in you…” She paused to let Jinsoul recall the instructions.

“Pull up my phone, show them the note: Gimme the money, no cops, no tracers, no colour packs.”

“Good. Remember no note, no tracing us right, you don’t have to speak. Haseul, you’ll be…”

“Circling round the block, making sure I get back here in 15 minutes.”

“Perfect.”

“Seulie, I’m kinda nervous,” Jinsoul said in her whiney puppy voice. “Please I am craving Wendy's, nothing fancy you can just get me the 444.”

“Christ she means the four for four and she’s only saying that so you don’t think she’s greedy, don’t put it down to nerves, trust me when I say she is insatiable when it comes to food, I’ve literally seen her grab a packet of haribo out of a bin.”

“That was one time!” 

“But was it _one_ time, Soul?”

“You can’t tell me you wouldn’t rescue a can of pringles when it’s just sticking out like that?”

“See my point. Just wait til the high kicks in from that omelette, I might have spiced it up a bit today, big day, you know, she will be clawing at the bag.”

“Wait, you put stuff in the omelette?”

“Soul, you know we’ve been through a lot together and I felt really bad about the whole kidnapping thing and I knew, don’t cry please, and I knew today was going to be stressful. So you know even though we got raided, I used the secret stash—“

“Not the stuff in the kinder egg toy?!”

“It was the stuff from the kinder egg toy.”

“Oh my god I never knew you cared THAT much Hyej, I’m—” she started flapping her hands at her face to evaporate the moisture forming in her eyes. 

“Stop, don’t cry, I hate it when you cry, please, Haseul’s watching, don’t.”

“It’s okay, I’m okay, that’s just so beautiful. Thank you, Hyej.” 

“Don’t mention it, really. And you heard nothing, Haseul, got it?”

“Heard what, Hyejoo?”

“Exactly.”

  
  
  
  


Jinsoul felt it hit her like a caveman had batted her knees with a giant rock as soon as she walked through the door.

She swayed a little, squinted, the glasses on her face feeling far too heavy for her nose. She reached to pull them off before Hyejoo quickly grabbed her hand and gave her a look of death underneath bushy eyebrows. The eyebrows...Jinsoul starred a little too long at the eyebrows.

She felt Hyejoo’s grip on her wrist and found herself being propelled forward, a missile of sorts. She’d almost forgotten where they were until she found herself staring at a pretty girl through the glass. 

Prison. _No wait._ Bank.

She turned her head, Hyejoo was no longer standing next to her. She would have to talk to this girl alone. God, why was Hyejoo letting her talk alone?

“Uh, hey.”

“Hello, welcome to Union Bank, how can I help you today?”

Jinsoul starred.

Indeed, how _could_ she help her today.

“I, uhm…” the phone, something about the phone, she held up the phone to the screen.

“Uhm, I’m sorry ma’am, I’m not sure what that means.”

Jinsoul flipped the screen back to read it, it was the notes app "it's blue man" staring her in the face.

“Heh, no that’s not right. Sorry, uhm...” she looked at the girl’s name tag, “Jungeun.”

“That’s... alright, do you have an account with us?”

“Wait a minute,” She thumbed through her notes, surely, _surely,_ there was something important in here. Then she found it.

“Oh yes, right so—”

“Put the fucking money in the fucking bag bitch, before I blow your fucking head off!” Hyejoo, obviously with her second sight, had appeared once again at her side, magically. A hand in her pocket poking her finger out to make it look like the barrel of a gun.

This wasn’t supposed to be how it went, Jinsoul’s mind was slowly catching up, she was supposed to handle it, she could handle it. What would Hyejoo say, _“I am a capable woman.” I AM a capable woman, okay._ She turned to Jungeun again, “hey dude, it’s cool we don’t want no trouble, man, just fill these very-” she played with the handle, “rough? it’s kinda rough- I lost my train of thought…”

“Bags?” Jungeun asked.

“Bags! Heh. Right! $4k in each bag,” She suddenly remembered the instructions, Hyejoo was shouting at people to get on the ground.

“No one play hero today, stay on the ground!” Hyejoo yelled.

“Hey, you better listen to her, just let them go quickly, it's not worth it,” A floor bound, whispering Heejin said to some brave, stupid, soul who wanted to pull a 9 from their pocket.

The note! Jinsoul remembered the note, “right give us the money, no cops, no tracers, no—”

Her phone buzzed.

“Oh my god, one sec.” 

seulie <3: hey i got you mash AND fries,was feeling wild but u need ur strength right :)

Jinsoul gasped, Hyejoo and Jungeun both jumped at the volume.

“TWO POTATOES? MASH AND FRIES. That’s so wild, she's great, heh.”

“Uh sure.”

“Oh my god you know what is wild— the ground. Honestly, Jungeun, can I call you, Jungeun?” The girl nodded. “I feel like an astronaut walking on the moon like my feet, so spongy. Is the moon spongy? Hold on let me check,” Jinsoul closed her eyes, Jungeun's puzzled face the last thing she saw until she was spectating the Earth in its full glory, it was beautiful truly, silent, until she remembered she was here to check something, she opened her eyes again “My god I couldn’t even tell I was just looking at earth and it was so peaceful.”

“Okay, here’s the money,” Jungeun handed the bag back, her professional smile had dripped off her face and what was left was concern.

Unknowingly to Jinsoul, Jungeun had already gone to the vault, collected $8000, putting $4k in each bag and returned in the time she’d spaced out.

“Hey, Jungeun, could you turn down the volume of the plants in here, I'm getting a headache?”

“Sure,” Jungeun said with a tight lipped smile.

“Alright, stay on the ground til we’re out of here. No one move,” Hyejoo said as they walked backwards towards the door. Jinsoul catches Heejin on the floor and almost makes the mistake of waving at her but instead her eyes cast themselves on the something next to her foot. She darted forward and Hyejoo almost yelled again, Heejin held her breath, was Jinsoul really about to blow the whole op? Did she see the guy with the gun? No. What she did see was an entire iceberg lettuce that she promptly grabbed out of a grocery bag. 

  
  
  


Hyejoo skidded into the back seat with the speed of a cracked out hedgehog. 

“DRIVE! DRIVE!”

Haseul, huge sunglasses still on and hood still tight around her head, shifted from park to drive and rolled off, plateauing her speed at a solid 20mph. 

Hyejoo began tapping her fingers on the casket. 

“Haseul please, for the love of God and Satan and all deities, drive faster.”

“Uhm so the issue with that is that I’m not supposed to go over 40mph.”

“At least go that fast then?!”

“Well, Hyejoo, the thing is...If you look in front of us…”

Hyejoo lent herself to peer between Haseul and Jinsoul, “You are fucking kidding me. I knew the casket was a bad idea.”

The entire population of cars were proceeding in reverence for the fallen and as such were moving at a glacial pace while the hearse rolled slowly through traffic.

“Potatoes are the most diverse food imaginable, did you know they have the same amount of chromosomes as a monkey, isn’t that wild?” Jinsoul was chewing loudly in between words so it came out rather muffled, unaware of the pressure cooker that was Hyejoo. 

Haseul gripped the steering wheel tighter and turned her head to Jinsoul to just smile at her and nod along.

“Haseul I do not do this often, and I would get on my knees, maybe, but this vehicle doesn’t have the range, so I’m asking, no I’m begging, put your foot to the floor. The cops would have been called already.”

Haseul managed to get far enough up someone's arse that traffic began to move out of the way. Hyejoo began to breathe a little deeper but would still periodically turn behind her waiting for red and blue lights. 

They picked up speed on the main road, Haseul pushing a good 50mph much to Hyejoo’s stress. 

Once they were out of the thick of traffic she ordered Jinsoul to start counting her bag. Jinsoul rubbed salty greasy fingers on the side of her jeans and tugged open the zip of the bag. She flipped through a few wads of cash. Hyejoo listened as the ruffle of papers stopped and Jinsoul turned with a stack with something plastic in it. 

“What is this?!”

“SOUL NO!”

But it was too late. The explosion. 

-  
-  
-

-

“No one fucking say anything.”

Jinsoul turned her bright purple face away from Hyejoo’s equally purple face and stared dead ahead, purple burger in hand. 

Haseul, who’s hood bang combo had taken the dye like a Roman testudo shield formation, seemed to sense the only thing Hyejoo wanted was to get home, slammed her foot down on the country road. 

Hyejoo’s fists were clenched, her mouth tight. She had specifically said ask for no dye packs but Jinsoul and her fucking lettuce. No, now was not the time to erupt. They still had to get home. At least Haseul was driving fast so Jinsoul’s end was coming soon. 

No, this would not get her, she was Son Hyejoo, she was above this, they had the money, some of the money, Jinsoul’s bag had been wrecked so there goes their extra share, but at least she had thought about getting extra right, it was okay, that was only there way of getting home, its fine, really.

“Put your foot down, Haseul.” 

Bump. 

Haseul looked back unsure.

Bump. 

“Don’t you dare slow down.” 

BUMP.

The casket lid burst open, an arm flopping out and slapping Hyejoo across in the face.

“PULL THE FUCKING CAR OVER NOW!” 

Haseul slammed the brakes, smoke practically coming off them and before the hearse had come to a complete stop, Hyejoo hopped out. 

She didn’t bother to close the door, instead she marched directly to a tree on the side of the road and started kicking the shit out of it. 

Jinsoul and Haseul would never dare repeat the expletives that roared out of her mouth, punctuating every kick. 

Haseul did however voice concern to Jinsoul about the state of the tree.

Out of breath, a stitch in her side, hands on her hips, Hyejoo panted her way back to the road. It felt good, finally to relieve some tension. Her chest heaved and she cast her eyes to the distance, they had the money to pay off the Taddy Gang. That was enough. They’d be at square one, but that was better than being cut up into squares. Maybe. She sucked her teeth. She would have to sell the playstation, the tv, the pop figure collection, samurai swords, the limited edition hardback compiled korra graphic novels if they wanted to get home and really they had to go home after this. 

Home. 

Maybe she did miss Sooyoung, it had been a while since she locked her in the garden shed, maybe she’d forgotten about it by now and wasn’t as mad. In truth it was partially the reason she had agreed to go with Jinsoul in the first place. 

She wiped the sweat off of her forehead with the back of her hand, something catching her eye as she did so. Lights. Red and blue lights. 

Fuck.

Hyejoo sprinted back in the car, they were so close now, they could make it.

“PIGS! DRIVE!”

Haseul didn’t need telling twice. They were a mile away from the meeting point with the Taddy Gang, originally she was going to hide the other $4000 in the casket, before she knew there was a body in there and before the dye pack had exploded.

They arrived, the group of people waiting. In the midst of them, a short, very short, gnome-like short girl stood.

Haseul pulled up and they jumped out. 

“Yo what the fuck happened to yall?” the short girl stepped forward, her deep throaty laugh, highly unsettling.

So this was their leader? The ‘Boss’ Jinsoul had told her about? She’d expected her to be...taller? She was definitely swamped next to Hyunjin and Yerim, oh and the little bitch herself Heejin had managed to get back before them, could’ve sworn she was taking the bus. The hearse was really that slow. There was also a blonde smaller sickly looking girl Hyejoo didn’t recognise.

“Would rather not talk about it,” Hyejoo had shed her disguise during the tree fight and where her facial hair, eyebrows, fake chin and prosthetic cuts had been left stencils of clear skin that hadn’t been exposed during The Explosion™. 

There was a strangled cry “God, why is she so small?! You’d literally fit in my pocket, I’m going to fold you up and put you in there. So small,” Jinsoul looked like she was about to hug the little girl and Hyejoo had to grab onto her collar to stop her in her tracks.

The ‘Boss’ just side eyed the blonde girl next to her. “A mess,” before she turned back to the two, “You got the cash?”

“It’s in the bag,” Hyejoo lobbed the non dyed bag at her and the short girl almost fell on her butt at the force.

“Wait!” Jinsoul said, running to the bag, wait I have something in there, she paused when Hyunjin of all people stood in front of her and the bag. 

“Uh, hey Hyun, I uh, left something in the bag,” she said, Hyejoo was confused why Hyunjin was blocking her from getting to it, probably for like her own safety or something, Taddy Gang was known to be dangerous, she supposed.

“Hey, careful when you unzip it yeah, you see what happened to us,” Hyejoo yelled over.

The ‘Boss’ looked up at them both and handed the bag to Yerim, for some reason and told her to open it. Yerim’s face dropped but regardless she laid it on the floor and slowly unzipped it, revealing an iceberg lettuce wedged in on the top.

The cops really were taking their time over the bumps. 

Jinsoul threw her hands out like a baby grasping for its mother and Yerim looked to the ‘Boss’, who gave her a nod before handing it to Jinsoul. 

Jinsoul hugged the lettuce and turned to Haseul, who had shedded her bangs and puffer jacket somewhere and stood, between the two parties, unblemished by the dye.

“Uhm,” Jinsoul began, “I saw this and I thought of you.” she began to pass the lettuce to Haseul but stopped herself when she saw her face, “wait I should explain, you look confused?”

“Oh it’s just no ones ever given me an entire lettuce before,” she tucked her hair behind her ear, laughing a little and looking at the ground.

“Well I remember you said that you wanted your titanic moment right? And I didn’t know what you meant at the time—”

“Soul the cops are going to be here any minute could you like, god I dunno, do this another time?”

“BOO, let her finish!” the ‘Boss’ of all people yelled.

“Thank you, ‘Boss’ girl...lady...Yeah. Ahem. Yeah so I didn’t know what you meant until I saw it on the floor of the bank and the only thing I really know about Titanic is that the ship hits an iceberg right? So when I saw this,” she held up the lettuce like she’d found the holy grail, “I knew you deserved your own iceberg and so here is this iceberg lettuce...” She held it out with both hands, head bowed, offering.

Haseul rather than accepting the lettuce just spoke, “there’s something I have to tell you, Jinsoul but I’m scared of the consequences. I'm scared of how it will change things between us because when I tell you this I can’t take it back.”

Jinsoul looked up still holding the lettuce, “you don’t have to be scared because I think, well I hope, you feel the same way I do. Like I really feel there’s something between us and I know we haven’t known each other that long but I want you to know your feelings are safe with me and I won’t ever hurt you.”

She was cut off however by a slow clap.

“Oh that’s very touching,” It was the ‘Boss’ who spoke. “Haseul, I don’t think she gets it. Think you might have to spell it out for her.”

Jinsoul stood up straighter, her gaze shifting to the ‘Boss’. 

“Well of course that’s not what she meant—” Hyejoo spoke up but the ‘Boss’ held out a finger to silence her, which surprisingly momentarily worked.

“No, Hyejoo, I’m afraid you don’t get it either.”

“Ugh please you’re like twelve what deep meaning are you going to get from anything?”

“This is my sister Yeojin,” It was Haseul who spoke, softly, a tremor in her voice. 

Both Hyejoo and Jinsoul shook their heads in confusion, looking between the two girls. 

Hyejoo spoke first, “what? What does that have to do with anything?”

“Actually quite a lot, I thought you were supposed to be the brains out of you two.”

This was ridiculous, it was harmless Haseul for gods sake, what sort of sick joke is this.

Jinsoul said nothing. 

Hyejoo stepped forward to square up to Yeojin but this time Hyunjin stood in her way. 

“Get out the way, Hyunjin.”

“Oh so you do know my name?”

“Please now's not the time—”

Then it clicked.

“No...Not you.”

“Ah now she gets it, finally. Was starting to think you were a few sandwiches short of a picnic.”

“So the whole time, all of you were in it the whole time?”

“The whole time baby!” the sickly blonde finally spoke, vibrating in her stead.

“And you?!” Hyejoo pointed to Heejin. 

“You know I actually felt bad because Jinsoul is a nice person, but you? You’re such a dickhead Hyejoo.” Heejin scoffed. 

Yeojin continued on, “look, this must be difficult, I get that. Don’t be so dense as to think a well established gang wouldn’t include all of us. Yerim is my mans, we go way back, you know. So since you decided to enlist her help, you basically gave yourselves away from the off. Now that doesn’t mean all your payment to the dealers hasn’t gone straight to me so really I wasn’t losing THAT much money and you did the work for me but you know these things run their course.”

“But Haseul, why would you do that?” This was the part that confused Hyejoo the most. It was one thing having Yerim and 2jin, hell she didn’t even know who the blonde chihuahua was but Haseul, Haseul who seemed so... good for Soul. 

“I didn’t exactly see me and my sister selling drugs out of a funeral home as a long term goal really, Hyejoo. I want a better life for my family.”

Hyejoo understood, wasn’t that originally what had motivated her all those months ago when they started? And now look at her, penniless. And Jinsoul. God Jinsoul was silent, for once Hyejoo had no clue what she was thinking. The hurt, knowing that Haseul had been deceiving her all along, being kidnapped by these kids, beaten up— wait.

“So you knew where the stash was even when you kidnapped Jinsoul?”

“Nah not at first, I just got sick of it you know, you were getting too bold and well, this is the Taddy Gang,” Yeojin spread her arms out, “we have a rep to uphold.”

_So Haseul hadn’t told her about the stash. Hmm._

“Well jokes on you, the cops are running up right now.” Hyejoo yelled, and she was right, the cops had slowly yet surely arrived. 

Two women stepped out of the police car, one adjusting her cap as she came over. 

“Well, well, well, what’s going on here then?” she said, her gaze boring into Hyejoo’s patchy face.

“Hey it’s my turn to say that!” The other officer squealed, jogging over and putting her hands on her hips. 

“PC Kim this is not the time.” The first cop said in a hushed tone but they all heard it.

“Oh I’m so sorry PC Wong, but you said in the car it was my turn, I’m playing bad cop today!” said PC Kim in a whisper shout.

PC Wong rubbed a temple and closed her eyes, “alright fine, go ahead.”

PC Kim cleared her throat, “Well, well, well, what's going on here then?”

Hyejoo was thinking fast, “hey officers, this kid is the leader of the Taddy Gang, she is a drug lord and she kidnapped my friend here and made us rob a bank,” she pointed a finger at Yeojin. Usually Hyejoo wasn’t no snitch but special circumstances. 

“What because she looks like a tadpole?!” PC Kim laughed, “I do love a good joke—oh wait bad cop—yeah, yeah likely story...scum.”

Out of nowhere Yeojin began to cry, loudly. “Officers!” She sobbed.

“Oh my, oh gorgeous, oh it's okay!” PC Kim rushed over and smothered Yeojin into a hug. 

“Why don’t you tell us what happened?” PC Wong knelt by her putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

“Well,” she rubbed her snotty nose on her sleeve, “these two right here, they robbed a bank and now they’re bullying me.”

The cops scowled at Hyejoo and Jinsoul respectively.

Yeojin continued, “the one with the patchy purple face, she's the leader of the Taddy Gang and she was trying to make me and my friend Chaewon here sell drugs for her!”

“Oh shut up you lying little c-”

“That’s quite enough, hands above your head, we’re taking you in.” PC Wong said rising to her feet.

“That’s my line!” PC Kim whined. 

“Well I’ve already said it, PC Kim.” 

“FINE! Then let us leave!”

“LETTUCE LEAF” Jinsoul smashed the lettuce to the ground, balling her fists before pointing at Yeojin, “Everyone, Yeojin _is_ a c word!

Everyone gasped.

“A cheater!”

Everyone sighed with relief.

“I can think of a different c word.” said Hyejoo. 

Everyone gasped again.

“A crook!” Jinsoul yelled.

Everyone sighed with relief once more.

“Sure, Soul,” Hyejoo raised her hands above her head and Jinsoul followed suit.

“I can’t believe two teenage girls would bully this sweet angel into selling DRUGS!” PC Kim said as she handcuffed Hyejoo, her and PC Wong’s backs to the Taddy Gang, Yeojin flipping them off and Chaewon waving. Hyunjin, Heejin and Yerim all looking at the floor. Haseul, well, her eyes looking between her sister and Jinsoul, tapping her foot, hands on her head. 

PC Wong, held down their heads as she pushed them into the backseat, Yeojin cried out a final “I want my mum!” for effect. 

“This is the worst 4/20 ever,” Jinsoul said to Hyejoo while looking at her feet.

* * *

**EIGHT MONTHS LATER**

The bars of the cell rolled away noisily. The arduous walk to the counter and a “Here are your belongings Ms Son.” before the buzz of a door and the smell of fresh winter air. 

Her feet guided her through the crunch of the snow until she reached a taller girl. 

“Man, you get uglier every time I see you, Sooyoung.”

“Ah shut up, you little whelk,” Sooyoung put Hyejoo in a headlock and ruffled her hair with her fist. “I know you missed your big sis.”

“Get off me!” Hyejoo struggled.

“Not until you admit it, jailbird.” 

“It’s Juvie, you fuck.” 

“Hyejooooo admit itttt,” Sooyoung held her tighter.

“Fine! Fucking hell. I missed you. Get off me.” 

Sooyoung relinquished her hold and Hyejoo stood up and straightened herself out. “God I literally worked out every day in Juvie, you’re so lucky I didn’t kick your ass just now.”

“Why didn’t you if you’re so buff?” Sooyoung raised an eyebrow.

“Because I still need a way of getting home and you’re my ride,” Hyejoo eyerolled opening the passenger door. 

“Sure, sure. Got a stop on the way home though,” Sooyoung smirked before sliding into the driver's seat. 

  
  
  


Hyejoo had nodded off on the ride somehow but the gentle braking of the car roused her from sleep. 

Sooyoung lent over and gave her leg a shake. “Wake up shithead we’re here.”

Hyejoo blinked the sleep from her eyes and looked around at the familiar neighborhood.

“Sooyoung this isn’t our—”

“I told you we had a stop on the way, now get out.”

Hyejoo unbuckled herself and opened her door. She was trying to process, being hit with some nerves until she saw a wide mouthed smile, who’s owner was sprinting towards her. 

“YOU'RE FREEEEEEEEE!!!”

The air was knocked out of Hyejoo’s lungs as Jinsoul hugged her so tight she thought this is how kittens in the womb must feel. 

“Hey Soul!” Her voice was muffled in Jinsoul’s shoulder.

Jinsoul began shaking her from side to side like a rag doll. Hyejoo didn’t mind, she let it last as long as Jinsoul dictated. 

It was a moment until Jinsoul finally let go. 

“Hey,” Hyejoo smiled. 

“Hey,” Jinsoul returned. “Uhm so I would invite you in but uhm my parents said you’re not allowed in the house anymore because you’re a bad influence. I explained everything to them, kinda, but you know they had to drop a lot of money on a lawyer so I just got community service. But I was really impressed you managed to get a phone in juvie hyej, you would tho, you’re so smart.”

“If I was smarter I wouldn’t have got us into this mess in the first place.” 

Jinsoul pouted. “Hyej, you’re still smart, you just can’t tell the future.” 

“I guess, but you know I’ve done some thinking and I realise if I wasn’t a dick to people then we probably would’ve gotten away with it too. You remember what Heejin said.”

“I do, I’ve made my peace with them. You probably should too?”

“Maybe. How’s Haseul?”

“Well, she finally moved, it looks like. She sent me this.”

Jinsoul held out her phone to reveal a picture of a lettuce with a scarf and a bobble hat. 

“Guess she’s still weird.”

“Ah jog on,” Jinsoul rapped Hyejoo’s shoulder playfully. “We have a ways to go but we’re sorting it out.”

“Yeah well I’m sure being in a different country helps.” 

“Kinda. Heh. Eight months is a long time you know.”

“I sure do. I hope you’re at least happy, Soul.”

“You know I realised it’s okay to speak up for myself and what I want. I think that’s how we managed to get over those things, especially when a lot of it was just circumstance.”

“You’re much nicer than I am.”

“I just think people deserve chances, Hyej.”

“I’m sorry, Jinsoul. You didn’t deserve any of this.”

Jinsoul smiled.

“Alright fam,” Sooyoung interrupted. “We gonna hotbox the car or what?” 

“Thought you'd never ask,” Hyejoo smiled. 

Jinsoul held up a baggy with delight and the three of them piled in the car.

“One strain of Kopoopi Luwak coming right up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm sorry if you were one of the people waiting on this for the last five months I got distracted with other work but thank you for sticking around <3 
> 
> thank you to my beta readers for keeping me sane and my plot wielding brain pal, i wouldnt have found the motivation to finish this without you.
> 
> twt & cc: entropyves

**Author's Note:**

> maybe some of this is based on personal experience. Pt 2 is coming, I am just writing other stuff too because I can't stay focused on one thing :)  
> comments are always appreciated <3
> 
> i just made a twitter @entropyves !


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